Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

I am working out at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Oak Harbor Ohio, about 20 mins or so past Cedar Point in Sandusky. I have been going out four days a week for the past two weeks and have experienced so much. I am working with Mikey Baratz and we are currently helping the refuge calibrate their car counters. To do this we need to survey the people coming into the park. We try to find out how many people are in each car, what they intend to do at the park, and whether or not they visit the visitors center. By doing this we are able to figure out an average number of people per car, which will give them a more accurate count of their daily visitors from now on. The purpose to doing this is not only just to know the number but will also aid them in their report to the government. The refuge is federally funded meaning the government pays for the operation costs and the more people that they have visiting the more federal funding they can have.

The refuge mainly focuses on land restoration and is one of the biggest bird conservatories in the state. Currently the refuge owns 9,000 acres of wetlands, marshes, and fields for the wildlife to thrive. My father helped to build their visitors center which was opened three years ago and is the most visited location in the refuge. The refuge sits next to the Magee Marsh which is another bird refuge. Currently, the two refuges are working together to put on te Biggest Week in Birding, which runs through the 14th. This week attracts thousands of birders to the area due to the vast number of different species that make the area home on their trip up north. The most spectacular bird I have seen so far iis the Bald Eagle. There are five nests on the refuge and so far three of the five have occupants.

Due to the distance of the project we set up a schedule with the refuge that allows us to spend the night in their bunk house two nights a week. The house is equipped with two bedrooms/bathrooms, a full kitchen, a living room with T.V. and also a screened in porch. Being able to stay out in the bunk house has taught us a lot about living on our own and is giving us a small preview of what college will be like having to cook your own food and not having family around all the time. We did learn however that when cooking bacon, do it in the oven. We cooked breakfast one morning and our bacon was putting off a lot of smoke. We opened the windows, turned on the fan above the stove and not five minutes later the fire alarm went off. Since it is a government building the security system alerted the police department. There was NO FIRE. We sat down to breakfast after the alarm shut off and no sooner than we began to eat our bacon the doorbell rang and a police officer was there. We explained what had happened and we had a good laugh about it. Besides this one little learning experience the bunk house has been smooth sailing and a great part project.

We have loved our project and cant wait to see what we will be doing next. I am in the process of making a time lapse film of some of the different locations in the refuge and I will be posting it on here when I am finished.